Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Yesterday I received my copy of Strange Aeons a Canadian independently produced skirmish miniatures game. The game is a two player game. One player takes the role of the baddies who are anything from cultists who seek to raise dead gods to avatars of those gods. The whole game is based around the stories of H. P. Lovecraft of whom I'm sure everyone has some knowledge of *cough*Cthulhu*cough* The other player takes control of Agents of "Threshold" an organization that fights these evil powers at every turn.

The rules are simple enough and there are more advanced rules later on. The game distinguished itself right away with its imaginative campaign style rules. As the Threshold agents grow and gain power so too do the "Lurkers." The Threshold crew must keep the same list until the main character is killed. Lost secondary agents can be replaced. There is also a way to balance the equipment of both sides which makes everything fair.

So Gott Des Todes and I threw some crews together and played a few games. My crew of what I had termed D.O.S.I.E.R. (Department Of Supernatural, Interdimensional and Extraterrestrial Research) started out small but grew by the end of the last game (Mainly because we misread the rules and I needed to get more men). Leading was Ivan Gregoryvitch the only Russian who knew the true nature of the Tunguska event. Armed with his trusty Mosin-Nagant rifle, lucky bear hat and armor he was sent with his fellow agents to investigate the explosion at the Brooklyn Museum. The area had been cordoned off by the police but anyone that had gone in to investigate had not returned.

Joining the stalwart hero was Agent Mark Wesberg a rather tough fellow who macheted first and asked questions later, Agent Shelley Winthrop who was well versed in Ancient Script and Peter a sailor friend of Mark's who had been brought along as extra muscle. Inside they came upon the cause of the ruckus: A mummy who had been part of the Egyptology exhibition and had subsequently risen from the dead. They confronted the mummy and after filling it with lead realized the futility of their actions. They escaped barely but not without the mummy assaulting and cursing Mark. Later he would find everything he fought causing a deep and horrible fear in him.

Then as the team made their way through the museum to the exit they came upon three zombies raised by the Mummy. Using the the exhibits Ivan, Mark and Shelley maneuvered themselves around the living dead. Peter, unfazed drew his .22 to unload round after round at the nearest zombie. With his second shot the gun was jammed.
"Damn it you piece of shit! Of all the times!" He moved away from the three zombies who now placed their attention on him. He unjammed his gun and fired again. The last thing the other three saw as they ran out of the museum was Peter surrounded by zombies.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Peter later showed up at D.O.S.I.E.R. HQ none the worse for wear. The crew re-equipped they returned only to face a giant undead monstrosity stitched together from the zombies and given monstrous strength. Mark was killed and the crew fled once again. This time to the rest of the museum where they searched for ancient artifacts to aid them in their battle. Ivan used a telephone in the curator's office to call in reinforcements.

In an hour the final showdown in the center of the Egyptology museum began. Shelley now armed with the knowledge to be able to bless the teams weapons did so. Training D.O.S.I.E.R. agents led by Alan Firth brought a .25 machine gun to the fight. Cultist followers of the Mummy, hellhounds and the mummy itself were waiting for the Agents. The battle was fierce with a two training agents and Shelley being struck down but in the end the D.O.S.I.E.R. agents prevailed.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

So back to my crazy ideas I had when the Daemon Hunters codex first came out (Sorry Grey Knights): Tzeentch Cult. I mashed together a list that will be henchmen heavy. Taking the process for my painting/modeling success (well at least in my case) from my Space Wolves/Arthurian Knights I will start with a 1000pt list and work from there:

I realize it is COMPLETELY lacking in anti-vehicle weaponry and I should adjust it but the Tech marine can pop some tanks and I think the Psykers as well. I'll give it a test and see what's what. As for Karamazov at such low points I can't not take the guy that lets you drop templates INTO COMBAT! It's sooooo evil and sooooo Chaos!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Knights of the Round gathered together with the Dark Angels. Across the ruined city the Grey Knights and an inducted chapter of Space Marines stood ready. The prize: a relic known as The Holy Grail. A vessel claimed to have been used by the Emperor himself. A holy chapter relic to both groups of knights they would stand at nothing to achieve their goal.

The game type was multiple objectives (5) which we placed one in each table quarter and one in the middle of the table and the setup was table quarters. We set up a ruined city on an 8' by 4' table. The Knights(Space Wolves) and Dark Angels have chosen to set up last. This was unfortunate for our long fang and devastator squads as we ended up with the least amount of terrain. We didn't chose to seize either and the game was afoot. The Space Marines and the Space Wolves moved up and the massed Terminators of the Dark Angel Deathwing and the Grey Knights marched forward and waited in deepstrike.

The enemy's tanks advanced down the streets. A speeder dropped to end Sir Lucan's (Dreadnought) involvement in the battle but missed. Two squads of Dark Angel terminators dropped down. One on the objective to our far left and one behind the enemy's Vindicator. Rockets fired and the Vindicator was no more. Plasma, rockets, las cannons and heavy bolter rounds were fired against rhinos and other heavy weapons squads. Sir Perceval's tank burst through the ruined walls of the central building which housed the Grail. Sir Plomyd's tank(Checkered) was not so lucky, immobilizing itself against the same ruins.

Two squads of Grey Knight Paladins appeared, both to retaliate for the Vindicator. One against the squad of Terminators the other against our Vindicator. They removed the Vindicator's turret and destroyed the squad. In return Sir Lyonell's tank containing a Rune Priest swung around and unleashed the Jaws of the World Wolf, dropping to Paladin's to their deaths.

The paladins, their mission complete, was teleported across the board to the Librarian. Two squads of Space marines left their rhinos near the center of the board, one toward the Grail and the other toward Plomyd's tank. A well placed melta shot made short work of the tank and a few of the knights inside. They returned the favor and mowed the squad down with the aid of their missile launching counterparts. Across the a rhino is destroyed and the initial squad of Dark Angel terminators containing their leader Belial engages in heated combat with the marines inside as well as Paladins nearby.

Lucan charges and destroys the upstart Land Speeder, the heavy weapon squads destroying each other in the meanwhile.

Belial stands firm in round after round of combat but eventually falls.

The squad in the ruins destroys Percival's tank and engages the squad in a combat that lasts the entire rest of the game.

Another squad of Dark Angel terminators drops and goads the Paladins to attack.

Unit after unit enters the center of the board to take the Grail but none succeed.

The pictures run out here but in the bottom of the 6th turn we each controlled two objectives and contested the Grail. Three Paladins remained after the combat against the Terminators on the far side of the table. After a round of firing from the Lascannon devastators they were down to 1. Arthur had moved to within view of the last, fired his twin-linked lascannon and killed the last. We rolled the dice and the game ended there. A Knights(Space Wolves) and Dark Angels victory.

The day was won. Many had lost their lives but the Dark Angels succeeded in supporting their brethren Knights in acquiring the Grail. The Grey knights were forced away with their Space Marine allies and would fight again another day.

Monday, August 8, 2011

So this Saturday I played in a three round tournament at Gamer's Inn. The missions were imaginative to say the least. Here's an overview of my matches and opponents:

My first opponent was a newbie necron player(Bad combo..). Gametype was Seize ground and pitched battle. Secondary objective was Killpoints and the third was no units on your half of the table. The flip was that when you had to make the roll for something (Shooting, assaulting etc) your opponent would roll the dice for you. Odd. I castled myself in the largest piece of terrain and sent my Lone Wolf out to wreck some warriors. I lost a rhino first turn and some Long Fangs but managed to get my Lone Wolf
into a squad of warriors. They did nothing to him and he smashed one into the ground. I roll the dice for my opponent's Ld check: 11. I smiled as they ran off the board. The following turn I locked in combat w/the next squad over. They again lost by one. I roll for her Ld check: 11. Off the board which kills enough to phase out the army.

I stopped to enjoy a cupcake then continued on my way. My next opponent was an Eldar player. He had 3 units of Dire Avengers, a unit of Guardians w/Brightlance, Asurman, Wraithlord w/Brightlance, Firedragons in a waveserpent with TL-Starcannons, 4 Dark Reapers and a Vibrocannon (Never faced one before). This time it was multiple bases (One in the center of each quarter) and pitched battle. We then rolled for one unit chosen by us to gain a randomly rolled ability. His Fire Dragons became scoring units much to my chagrin and one of my Grey Wolf squads gained stealth which I later realized was a waste as his Dark Reaper Exarch had crackshot : / I stupidly decided to go first and didn't commit with one of my squads (the checkered tank). This cost me valuable suppression on the Dark Reapers cloistered on the tower and the approaching Fire Dragons. I had intended to contest the objective in the largest building with the Lone Wolf but he got stuck in combat for the whole game against Asurman. His Fire Dragons in the final round assaulted my objective in the bastion and lost against a Wolfguard and a Grey Wolf (Haha!) but even with -2 they didn't run. So he held 2 and I held 1. A few things I could have done: Let Bjorn die and sat on his objective corpse, kept the checkered squad in reserve and just driven onto the objective in the large building. Oh well. Hindsight huh? In that game I scored the tertiary objective which was to have your "modified" unit survive.

My last opponent was a novice Daemons player who gasped when I kept my entire army in reserves. The match was KP w/secondary as most troops on both halves of the table and tertiary as...I can't remember. Well in anycase I castled my forces and made him come to me. His troops didn't come in until quite late but by then I had made short work of the Masque, a unit of flamers and his Defiler who attacked Bjorn in CC. That was quite a test of the old man's abilities. in 3 rounds of combat he took 9 penetrating hits but only lost his mobility. In the final round he deflected 2 off his mighty shield and dealt 3 in return, wrecking the monstrosity. Every turn there was a random effect like "All infantry count as having moved and roll for difficult terrain" or "All armor saves are reduced by one and all facings of vehicles are reduced by one." In the end I was ahead by 1 KP so I got the primary and my opponent received the tertiary.

Overall I ran in 2nd place which netted me $30. Not bad for a $5 entry fee. I had fun and learned some things: Bjorn and Lone Wolves don't die. They didn't die the entire tournament. I can just see them post tourney.